


Starter

by asweallfallfromgrace



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime)
Genre: Bad Parenting, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Child Neglect, Episode Related, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Points of View, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-03-05 14:12:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asweallfallfromgrace/pseuds/asweallfallfromgrace
Summary: Onix was Brock’s first Pokemon. She was there through it all.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I got sucked into Pokemon for the last six months. Special interests, you know.

One moment, she was there, and the next, she was not.

And then she was there again. She roared in slight confusion — this wasn’t the Rock Tunnel, this wasn’t home — but she was cut off by a sharp, startled, but not particularly angry or loud “Quiet!” from the stern-looking human standing next to her.

Things clicked into place when she saw the spherical object in the human’s hand. Of course, she’d been captured. She relaxed a bit — even though she was quite inexperienced with humans, this human was clearly not about to send her into battle. 

Even so, where was she now? 

“I apologize for snapping at you, Onix, but I didn’t want to wake my son.” the human said. “It’s his tenth birthday today, and I’d like you to be his Starter Pokemon.”

She made a noise of understanding, allowing the human to tie something loosely around her neck and guide her through an open window. She gazed at the child in her line of sight: he was small, slight, with thin eyes and spiky hair, just like the man who had captured her. 

She didn’t know what a “starter” was, but she understood, somehow, deep within her: she was this child’s Pokemon. And so, when the boy awoke, taking in the sight of her and crowing “Whoa, an Onix!”, she gave a gentle roar. 

_“Hello, friend.”_


	2. Chapter 2

“Onix, Rock Throw!” Brock called, and she obediently performed the move on the reinforced wall of the gym. “Now Tackle Attack!”

There was a hardness to his voice that Onix hadn’t heard before. It wasn’t directed towards her — she knew that much — but the presence itself stung her heart like a Beedrill’s Twineedle wedged between her boulders. 

“Stealth Rock!” he commanded, and she did it. He was halfway through ordering another Tackle when the cries of a young human rang out across the gym.

“Brock!” 

“Damn.” the twelve-year-old whispered. Darting up the stairs of the stand and towards the crying child, he left Onix out of her Pokeball, which allowed her to watch as he spoke to the other children that made up his family. 

He seemed...frazzled, to say the least.

Finally, after half an hour and watching her trainer go in and out of the gym several times, he returned to her.

“I’m sorry, Onix.” 

His apology was completely genuine, even with the fatigue underlying his words. She roared inquisitively, trying to get him to _let it out, you stubborn child_. 

He did. He slumped against her, hard, and told her everything. How his dad was gone, off on a Pokemon journey that he could tell wasn’t actually happening. How his mom had disappeared, again. How he was now supposed to be the Gym Leader and care for multiple toddler-aged siblings at the same time. How _tired_ he was, all the time.

Onix loosely wrapped her tail around him, doing her best to simulate a hug, and, yes, there was a smile!

“Onix! I didn’t know you knew Bind!”

She’d take it.

—   
“I’m here for a gym battle!” 

Onix stopped dead mid-Tackle. She and Brock had been training — just for this day, of course, but she hadn’t expected it to be _so soon_. 

Brock must have thought the same, as he looked visibly shaken, taking a deep breath and rubbing the back of his neck. “Of course. Could you give me just a moment?” he asked, and the challenger nodded. Onix watched as her trainer went into Octillery mode, bringing back his siblings and a bottle of Potion from the house. He deposited the group of children in the stands, then came back to the field. 

“You need to be in top form.” he murmured, spraying the medicine on the small scrapes and chips she’d acquired from her skirmish with the wall. She hadn’t even noticed they were there. “There we go.” 

Soon enough, they were set up on the battlefield. Onix, of course, was Brock’s choice, while the challenger had chosen a Charmander, who was wilting under Onix’s shadow. 

“This will be a one-on-one battle. No substitutions. The challenger makes the first move — are you ready?” the Gym Leader said, reciting what Onix knew was a script. He’d been muttering it under his breath between commands for the last month. 

“Yeah!” the challenger responded, grinning broadly and pointing at Onix. “Charmander, use Ember!”

Onix took the move. She wasn’t about to panic over a bit of fire — hitting the wall hurt her more.

“Rock Throw, Onix!” Both Charmander and its trainer yelped as she tossed the rock.

“Scratch, Charmander!” Sharp claws raked across her face. Again, a move that was not particularly powerful nor effective against her. 

“Okay, Onix. Bind!” 

She roared in acknowledgement and wrapped herself around it, and just like that, Charmander was knocked out. 

She didn’t think she was that strong.

Her trainer breathed a sigh of relief, then went over to the challenger, who was looking a bit teary-eyed. “Was that your first gym battle?” he asked, crouching and looking at Charmander.

He got a nod. “Charmander and I have been together for two weeks — is it gonna be okay?” 

“It’ll be fine. Just take it to the Pokemon Center...you know how to get there, right?” 

Onix watched, with warmth in her heart, as the two spoke, her trainer giving the other directions and reassurances. 

—

And so it went, day after day, week after week, she watched as a steady stream of challengers came in and out of the gym. She learned to dread fighting all of the Squirtle — she hated water just about more than anything. 

But even if the odd Water Gun/Tackle combination ended up knocking her out, even if Brock did have to give out a Badge to an over-excited ten-year-old, the two of them would just work even harder after a bit of recovery time. 

Though she still had her doubts about how much harder her trainer could work. It seemed like he had more and more on his plate every day, between his siblings, his Pokemon, and the gym.

The group of children were a near-constant presence in the stands, watching their training or their battle keenly, the older ones cheering them on. She’d slowly learned to navigate interactions with them. Generally, the worst they could do was try to climb her — which she didn’t mind very much — though there was one time when Suzy, one of the very small children, had tried to imitate her big brother and somehow ended up soaking her in water from the hose outside. No one was very happy after that, and Brock had spent half the night trying to dry her off and clean up the mess.

There were points where she felt a bit guilty for taking up so much of his time with training or care — though he seemed happy to try out new “techniques” (whatever that was supposed to mean), the fact remained that, due to her size, she was a pretty high maintenance Pokemon. 

Which was why she was rather surprised to find herself facing a wild Geodude a few months after Brock became the official Gym Leader. The Geodude looked rather annoyed to be disturbed — woken up from its nap in the dark cave, apparently. She did not like the way it was looking at her. 

So she roared at it, asking at what it thought it was looking. Though she was sure that humans couldn’t understand what she was saying, she heard her trainer chuckle from behind her. 

The Geodude flung itself at her. Tackle Attacks were not a major issue, especially considering that her boulders were stronger. 

“Tackle it right back, Onix!” 

There was the downside — her Tackles were going to be just as effective as the Geodude’s.

The other Pokemon gave her a look of pure vitriol and made a very ominous noise. From what she could see, it was also starting to look...strange. 

“Oh, that’s not good. Onix, watch it, that’s Self Destruct!” Brock cried from behind her.

It was not good. She’d only seen that move once, and it brought a whole section of the Rock Tunnel down on a lot of people and Pokemon.

Time slowed. She instinctively wrapped herself around her trainer — humans were fragile creatures. The cave shook, and things went pitch black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brock’s Geodude is a bit of an asshole in this situation lmao


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They really needed more interaction between non-Pikachu Pokemon in this series.
> 
> As usual, just some loose vignettes.

She really hated her ball sometimes.

It wasn’t that she was scared of being abandoned or the small space.

She just hated the way time passed without her knowledge. Everything was just...dark, with nothing to tether her to the real world. For all she knew when she was in the void, it could have been years passing while she was confined. 

This time, though, she could tell it hadn’t been too long since she’d been out, because the first thing she saw was her trainer’s face. It looked almost exactly the same as it had been the last time she was out, save for a small bandage on his forehead. 

It also was lit up in a relieved smile, and she mirrored back the relief in her roar of greeting. 

And in that moment, Onix knew that everything would be all right.

—-

It took her a while, but she eventually warmed up to Geodude. A lot of Trainers who came by the gym seemed to fear rock types, and she could now understand why. The fellow rock Pokemon was quite grumpy and short-tempered. 

He was especially particular about food, especially for the first few weeks. She didn’t really understand it — but then again, she’d been with Brock for much longer than Geodude had. She supposed she’d gotten used to the life of a trainer’s Pokemon — she could barely remember a time when she hadn’t been here.

She decided to ask the other rock-type about it one sunny, languid afternoon. The two of them were outside of their balls (thankfully), watching Brock try to juggle making Pokemon food after yet another rejection from Geodude and watching his siblings play. 

“How come you don’t eat?” It was blunter than she’d originally wanted, but she was too curious to put it off any longer. Geodude looked at her in surprise. 

“I eat,” he said, annoyance in his tone. 

“Are you picky?”

“No, I’m not picky!” 

“So why do you leave so much food?”

Geodude made a noise that could only be translated as an exasperated sigh. “It’s just not the same.”

“What was the food like before?” she asked, curiosity piqued even more. She honestly hadn’t thought much about what Geodude ate.

“It’s not the food,” was the only reply she got, in a tone that was absolutely dripping with frustration. He looked around at the gaggle of children and then at Brock. “Everything’s just different.”

She made the executive decision to give him some space at that point, not wanting to provoke him. The Self-Destruct incident was still fresh in her mind, after all. 

Her trainer, however, apparently had no such qualms. 

“Here, Geodude, try this,” he said, placing a bowl of Pokemon food in front of his newest Pokemon. Apparently, she had missed the fact that he had finished the recipe — there was just so much activity of which to keep track, especially considering that she had felt the weight of one of the children land on her back a while back. 

Continuing to ignore Suzy trying and failing to lift the end of her tail off the ground, she cast a judgmental glance at the bowl — judging by the conversation they’d just had, it was doubtful that Geodude would like it. 

Even so, the other Pokemon picked up a piece of food and took an experimental bite. She caught an incremental widening of his eyes, and he took another bite. 

“Not bad,” he said, though she knew Brock wouldn’t know the content of the vocalization. “Needs more salt.” 

But his complaint lacked the venom that had permeated most of his behavior since his capture, which meant in her book, its mere existence was worth celebrating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think next up will be Ash’s battles. Should be fun.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’ve always wondered what Onix thought of Pikachu after the EP005 incident.

And so it went.

Geodude was eating more and more often, and he even let some of the kids near him without getting angry. 

Onix was slightly envious of the situational naïveté that the other Pokemon would deny having. She had learned a long time ago that if she threw a fit about the children, all it would do was upset the delicate balance her trainer had managed to strike. She had become patient, tempered to their non-water-related antics. 

She’d noticed that Brock had also become equally tempered to his situation, which made her a little nervous. Even as he put more and more effort into his responsibilities, the commands she was given in battle and the conversations she heard were terse, almost icy. Gone was the young boy who’d shown so much concern for the welfare of his challengers and their Pokemon. In his place stood a teenager, a young man, who’d suppressed his sensitivity to minimal levels.

His usual kindness only came out when he was talking to her, Geodude, and the children. She knew it was genuine, but it was...reserved, almost rationed out. 

And indeed, when she found herself facing yet another newly minted trainer and his Pikachu, the iciness came out in full force. 

She watched as the Pikachu panicked, running in back to its trainer, who was unsympathetic to its plight and nearly physically tossed it back onto the arena. 

“Onix, Tackle Attack!” She really didn’t want to battle if the opponent didn’t, but she wasn’t about to disobey her trainer.

“Onix, bind it now!” She scooped the tiny Mouse Pokemon up, holding it fast in her coils. It squeaked in pain, and she wished this battle would be over already.

“Pikachu, Thunder Shock!” She watched, cocking her head, as the other Pokemon produced a weak bolt of electricity. Not that it affected her in the slightest, of course. 

Her trainer chastised the opponent for using an attack to which she was immune, and she internally rolled her eyes. New trainers were naive, yes, but she was far from impervious like Brock was making her out to be.

Though with a low-level Pikachu...yes, he was right.

Apparently, the challenger realized this, because he forfeited, yelling “Cut it out!”

She immediately dropped Pikachu, roaring an “Are you alright?” at it. 

Pikachu didn’t respond, giving her a look of minor terror, which didn’t help her already-frustrated mood. 

Once the challenger had left, presumably looking for somewhere to heal his Pokemon, she eyed her trainer and gave an exasperated roar. Sometimes, she wanted to give him a good whack on the head with her tail, but she knew that wouldn’t help.

And, illustrating her point, he just sighed in exhaustion. “Onix, return.” 

The next time she was called out of her ball, she was greeted by the exact same Pikachu, who promptly started giving off electricity. Which was much stronger than the last time.

Damn it.

She heard Brock yell “Onix, Bind it!”, along with gasps from the kids in the stands. She obeyed. There were Thunderbolts in her vision, and even if she was immune, she was starting to not feel very well. 

She roared, even though she knew her trainer wouldn’t understand her plea for him to quit it with this kid already. The Pikachu was crying, squirming in her grip...and then, thankfully, she heard Brock’s voice.

“Onix, stop!” 

She gratefully released the Pikachu, who thumped to the floor with a squeak, knocked out. 

“No, Brock, I want to play this match to the end.” The other trainer was stubborn.

“There’s really no point in going on. I really don’t want to hurt your Pokemon.” She almost cried with relief when she heard that. She trusted her trainer, but she had started to worry that he had been deriving joy from the last match’s ridiculous power imbalance. There was the kindness she saw outside of battle.

She didn’t have time to wallow in the happiness she felt, though, because the next thing she knew, there was water pouring down on her from the ceiling. She roared in pain and confusion — this was far from Suzy and the garden hose, and she was starting to panic. She heard Brock yell out her name, his voice heavy with concern.

The added bonus of Pikachu’s Thunderbolt did nothing to lessen the pain, and she felt herself fall to the floor, twitching, with a thud that resonated in her ears. She heard Brock’s voice, and her opponent’s voice, and the Pikachu sparking, ready to finish her off...and then Forrest’s, Yolanda’s, and Salvadore’s voices, for some reason. She had no idea what was going on, but the Pikachu wasn’t attacking, so she closed her eyes, letting herself rest for a moment. 

For the second time that day, but for the first time ever for the specific reason, relief flooded her as she felt herself return to the Pokéball.

“This is the Geodude incident all over again.” was her first thought when she was released from the spherical prison. Brock’s face was a mirror image of the expression he’d been wearing that time. Except Geodude was out of his ball too, looking slightly singed around the edges. And they were outside, in a forest.

Onix felt a mild sense of anxiety. She’d never been in a forest before — was Brock going to release her? She didn’t take him for that type...

“I’m so glad you two are okay,” he started, taking a step back and looking at them with a critical eye. “I’m trying to figure out how I even treat Rock Pokemon who have been affected by electricity. Both of you are secondary ground types, so this doesn’t usually happen...”

“What are you talking about, Brock?” Another person stepped into view. She and Geodude both had the same realization as to the identity of the person, as they both tensed slightly. 

It was the opponent from the Gym.

What was going on?

“Both of them took damage from Pikachu’s Thunderbolt earlier.” Brock turned back to the two rock-types. “I’m sure you both remember Ash, the trainer we battled earlier. I’m going to be traveling with him, since my dad decided to show his face again.”

There was a lot to unpack there, and she  
puzzled over the statement as Brock went to work on Geodude with a Potion and the sand-filled brush he used to polish the two of them. 

She noticed Ash was watching him, Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. She shuddered a little — while she certainly was not one to hold a grudge, she could still feel the foreign sensation of electricity running over her skin when she looked at the electric-type. 

“Your turn, Onix.” Brock said, turning towards her. Geodude gave an encouraging noise, something to the effect of “it feels much better now,” and she allowed her trainer to work his Breeder magic on her, trying to let the nerves ease. 

After all, she, Geodude, and Pikachu were traveling partners now.


End file.
